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Theme for 2013 is "Judgement Day: The Last Revival"

Submitted by Ghoul Friday

on October 18, 2013 - 4:27pm

It looks like I may indeed get the house decorated in time. It's a theme that's been waiting to be brought into being since last year when I spotted this book, When Skeletons Come Out of the Closets by John R. Rice.

Here's a description of this collection of sermons:

"When Skeletons Come Out of Closets was preached in a red hot revival service. Preacher - here is the way it's supposed to be done. Christian - there is water here if your soul needs an oasis. Seeker of truth - if you are worried about life after death, about how to have peace with God--here is the answer from God's word, the Holy Bible. 'Everybody that goes to hell gets exactly what he deserves. He walks up to the ticket window and pays his own fare to hell -- in wages! But everybody that goes to heaven rides on a free pass.'"

John Richard Ricewas a Baptist preacher born in Texas in 1895. He wrote more than 200 publications, apparently selling 60 million copies of his work. He had a radio show called the Voice of Revival that aired on 69 stations in 29 states, broadcasting his evangelical sermons to folks at home.

I have always been intrigued by old fashioned American tent revivals. They always seemed like such intense spectacles, full of extreme spiritual enthusiasm, and a little frightening to behold as a big city Catholic girl.

When I saw the book online, I did some research. Not only did I learn about Dr. Rice, but I actually found a recording of him (note: link works in Chrome, but not in Firefox) talking about what happens when the skeletons come out of their closets at the time of judgement. And it's a frightening story, far more terrifying than any horror movie.

I was instantly hooked. My next theme was picked before I had even had that year's party.

I started to brush up on my Revelations knowledge and the various theories about Heaven and Hell that are held under the Christian umbrella and its different houses.

I toyed with the idea of doing a frightening end of the world spin, but wanted to play more with Judgment Day and revivals.Besides, there's so much that can be done with Revelations on its own, it really demands more time than I have.

One theory about Hell is that souls actually have to choose hell to be sent there (usually over doing time in Purgatory which is a limited amount of torment for past sins). I asked myself "Huh...who the heck would choose hell?".

And I smiled.

It occurred to me that there is a lot of fun to be had with Hell making a case for itself. Maybe with a stall (like a tradeshow booth display).

The front room will be Heaven with a skeleton slant (hat tip to the book cover), and the dining room will be Hell.